Boroujerdi Historical House: UNESCO Top Choice in 2015

Hao Ping, President of UNESCO’s General Conference, granted the top international rate of 2015 to Boroujerdi historical house in Kashan.

Heading a delegation in visit to Kashan’s historical buildings (Ameris House, Boroujerdis House, Aqa Bozorg Mosque and School, Sialk ancient hills, and Fin Garden and Bath Historical Complex) in 2014 he nominated Boroujerdi House as the most beautiful historical house in Asia.

After receiving positive feedback from tourists it has been chosen as UNESCO Top Choice in 2015 according to popular tourist attractions classification system selection.

Mr. Ping also described Kashan as ‘one of the unique historical city and of valuable architecture,’ expressing satisfaction to visit the city in his first ever trip to Iran. “Iran has a long history, tracing back to 8 millennia before; country’s civilization has contributed much to the world civilization,” he said.

The Borujerdi House is a historic house in Kashan, Iran.

The house was built in 1857 by architect Ostad Ali Maryam, for the bride of Haji Mehdi Borujerdi, a wealthy merchant. The bride came from the affluent Tabatabaei family, for whom Ali Maryam had built the Tabatabaei House some years earlier.

It consists of a rectangular beautiful courtyard, delightful wall paintings by the royal painter Kamal-ol-molk, and three 40 meter tall wind towers which help cool the house to unusually cool temperatures. It has 3 entrances, and all the classic signatures of traditional Persian residential architecture, such as biruni and daruni (andarun). The house took eighteen years to build using 150 craftsmen.

It has three entrances and all the classic signatures of Persian architecture. The main entrance is in the form of an octagonal vestibule with multilateral skylights in the ceiling. Near the entrance is a five-door chamber with intricate plasterwork. Walking through a narrow corridor, one reaches a vast rectangular courtyard that has a pool and is flanked by trees and flowerbeds.

In the vicinity of the corridor is a reception area sandwiched between two rooms. Due to the high amount of sunlight entering these two rooms, they were mostly utilized during winter.

In the northeast area of the property lie the kitchen, rooms and stairways to the basement.

On the southern side is a large covered hall adorned with reliefs, artistic carvings and meshed windows, which was the main area for holding celebrations. It consists of a raised platform on its far side that was normally reserved for special guests.

The house is famous for its unusual wind towers, which are made of stone, brick, sun-baked bricks and a composition of clay, straw and mortar. Three 40-meter-tall wind towers help cool the house to unusually cool temperatures. Even the basements consistently benefit from the flow of cool air from the wind towers.

Since exceptional attention has been paid to minute architectural details demanded by the geographical and climatic conditions of the area, the house has attracted considerable attention of architects as well as Iranian and foreign scientific and technical teams.

While Boroujerdi House used to be a private home, it is now open to the public as a museum. The museum is divided into four sections, namely reception, ceremonies, residential halls and rooms.